KATHMANDU, March 17: Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Uma Regmi has said that resilient recovery and realization of sustainable development will be a distant dream without the inclusion of women, who constitute more than half of the global population.

Addressing the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in the United Nations, New York, on Wednesday, the minister said that COVID-19 and climate crisis are “threat multiplier”which make women and girls more vulnerable to all forms of gender-based violence and human trafficking and stressed an integrated approach to tackle the crises effectively.

While highlighting Nepal’s major achievements in the field of gender equality and women empowerment, she underlined that Nepal has been implementing a zero-tolerance policy against gender-based violence and embracing the idea of mainstreaming gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) into climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. Nepal is a pioneer country in South Asia to implement a gender-responsive budget, she said.

Minister Regmi also urged the international community, particularly the developed countries, to fulfill the $100 billion per year commitment on climate funding and double the adaptation finance by 2025 for ensuring gender-just climate solutions, increasing women’s leadership in the green economy, and building women’s and girls’ resilience to climate impacts and disasters.

The 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women is being held from 14 to 25 March 2022 under the theme “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs.” The Nepali delegation to the Session led by Minister Regmi includes Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens Hari Prasad Mainali, Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amrit Bahadur Rai, gender expert Bandana Rana, and senior government officials.

According to Nepal's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Minister Regmi also participated in a Ministerial Roundtable on “Women’s voice and agency: good practices towards achieving women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and decision-making”on 14 March. In her intervention, she highlighted Nepal’s legal and institutional arrangements and shared the best practices that ensure meaningful participation of women and girls in every walk of Nepali society.

 
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